


almost like magic.

by im_just_better_fictionally



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pregnancy, White House
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 00:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5143913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_just_better_fictionally/pseuds/im_just_better_fictionally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She couldn't be… pregnant? It was a one-night stand and she had been careful. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach as if check that her stomach hadn't suddenly doubled in size." C.J find out that she's pregnant. Set Mid-Season 1. C.J mainly. Possibly (probably) ending in Danny. C.J/Abbey Friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Press Briefing

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately I don’t own these characters or the world that they live in.

The last thing C.J Cregg wanted to do this morning was a brief briefing. Tired, cranky and with her stomach performing nauseating flips she wished nothing more than to be lying in bed with a heat pack and some Tylenol. Because although working for the President had it perks, days off were unfortunately not one of these and despite the flu that she believed to be coursing through her body she still needed to brief. She laid her head on the table hoping for a few more moments of solitude before she was needed to address the hungry pack.

“C.J, I hate to rush you but it’s 9:15 and the gaggle is getting restless,” Carol warns her as she walk into her boss’ office brandishing her with a folder of the days top news. News that C.J, despite her headache and rolling stomach, is expected to repeat and then be interrogated on by fifty different reporters. Carol, picking up on how her boss is feeling starts making alternative suggestions. “I mean, I could send out a press statement if you really are too sick. I just hate to do that because of the Lydells are co-” 

“It’s fine. Really, I’m fine. I’ll go now.” The room spun as she stood up but determined to feed the clamoring horde that is the White House Press Corp she gave her body a moment to settle before grabbing the folder off Carol and making the short distance from her office and the podium.

It has all been going fine until the Lydells were mentioned. 

Her stomach had stayed quite for the first ten minutes and although her head was still pounding she had managed to joke with the room and respond to Danny with the kind of wit that she hoped would fool her audience. Suddenly though, as if to punish her for the mere thought of coming out here despite her bodies protest her stomach started to roll more violently than it had all morning. Quickly swallowing back any bile she turned her head to address Steve. Apparently though she had moved her head two quickly and it began to spin again. Not wanting to be the story of the week and knowing how embarrassing it would be if she displayed what she ate last week for the entire Press Corps she let Steve finish confirming the attendance of the Lydell’s before discreetly motioning to Carol that she needed to wrap up. 

C.J’s body only protested more though as she stepped back from the podium with black dots warping her vision. Her arms reached out for something, anything, to steady herself but with nothing but air available, she fell.

\----

When her eyes flutter open she’s not surprised to see Abbey Bartlet looming over her. In fact, she’s more surprised to see that someone has obviously moved her to her couch than anything else.

“One of my Secret Service men, Hal,” Abbey said as though she could read C.J’s mind. “I assume you wanted to know how you got back here? Hal carried you.”

“That’s… embarrassing. Well, at least it’s not as embarrassing as if it was one of the three stooges that I work with,” C.J comments. It was bad enough that she had blacked out in front of the Press Corps let alone the image of Josh lifting her off the ground. “Thank Hal for me, would you?”

“I will, although you probably should know that those three stooges you mentioned certainly saw everything that happened. Josh looked like wanted to carry you.” Abbey admitted as she got out of her bag several medical instruments.

“You really don’t need to do this Abbey,” C.J protested as Abbey checked her temperature. “A mixture of the flu and extremely bright lights did me in. I promise I won’t allow it to happen again.”

“It definitely won’t be happening again, young lady. You’ll be looking after yourself. Especially with the condition that you are in now,” Abbey demanded, “Actually, I really would feel better of we went to the doctor.”

“Abbey, I really think that you are over reacting. I have the flu.” All she wanted to do was ask Abbey to leave, turn off the light, pull up the blanket that always hung on her couch and fall asleep.

“How long C.J are you going to call it the flu?” Abbey asked, acting as if she was trying to conceal some horrid ailment.

“I don’t know Abbey. Until it goes away. Why are you being weird?”

“Because C.J you don’t have a fever.”

“Seriously, I don’t have a fever. That’s why you are worrying? I’m no medical expert but I’m pretty sure that’s a positive sign.”

“It’s also not how the flu works. You have the flu and you should have a temperature. Are you sure it’s not something else?” It seemed to C.J as though Dr. Bartlet had known the answer coming in and was giving C.J the space to figure it out.

“Something else, like what?”

“Are you…? Could you possibly be pregnant?”

C.J laughs until her eyes meets Abbey’s and she realizes that the First Lady did not mean that as a joke. “No Abbey, I’m not pregnant. You actually have to have sex to get pregnant and that’s been at least a month for Me.” 

“So?” Abbey doesn’t seem any less convinced of C.J fertility. 

“Abbey, that’s insane. I’m not with child.” And she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. It just wasn’t true.

“Insane perhaps, but not impossible. When was your period?” 

All of a sudden, C.J froze. When was her last period? She had been so caught up in the State of The Union and the President’s flu that she hadn’t really been paying attention. It had briefly crossed her mind once but she blamed it on all the stress from work. But no, she couldn’t be… pregnant? It was a one-night stand and she had been careful. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach as if check that her stomach hadn’t suddenly doubled in size.

“Much too long ago.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not mine.

She's pregnant.

She undeniably, definitely pregnant.

Well, when she fainted she could have hit her head harder than she thought and she might not actually be sitting on the floor of the First Ladies bathroom with multiple positive pregnancy tests staring up at accusingly.

When Abbey had offered (well not so much as offered but demanded) to help C. J. find out if she was in fact with child or not there had been a hope in the Press Secretary's mind that she wasn't. That she could join the First Lady on this weird adventure, find out that it was all a bout of influenza driven craziness and never spoken about it again.

Not now though. Now she was about eight months away from having that bout of craziness bundles in her arms. With a name and 10 fingers and toes. When C. J. had gone to that bar to forget all that had been going on in her life she hadn't expected to leave that man's bed with anything other than an orgasm. Now she was expected to have a child.

"You'll need to see a doctor. I mean, I would do it but I'm not an OBGYN and it's probably best that you go to one of them for the duration of the pregnancy. I'll be happy to come to your appointment though and I'll prescribe some vitamins. All of that sort of thing." Abbey suddenly brought C. J. out of her thoughts. There was so much to be done. She didn't where to start or what to do. She wasn't ready to be a mother. Let alone a single one.

"I-I can't do this Mrs. Bartlet. I can't- I'm not a mother." C.J. has not been the kind of child that was much afraid of anything. She was born fearless, born daring and it was something that both her parents and encouraged when she was a young girl. But right now, staring into Abbey Bartlet's eyes, she had never felt more scared or inadequate in her life. "Kids need consistency and time and all thing that I can't deliver."

"Yes, you can Claudia Jean. You can do this," Abbey stated, with a conviction that C.J. just did not feel.

"No Abbey, I really, really can't. I live in a tiny apartment that I barely see as it is. I live in my office. I live for my job. I-I don't have the time for a child. Let alone- I mean… this child wasn't exactly conceived in the greatest circumstances. I had a one night stand with someone who I'll never be able to track down." C. J. didn't want to admit how ashamed she was of that last thing. She was all for women's liberation and she was certainly no stranger to the occasional one nightstand but for that to be how she made her baby? To never be able to give her child the kind of father that she had grown up with? She knew what it was like to grow up with a parent that wasn't really yours and she had no plans to make her future child go through that. "I could barely do this with someone Abbey. I certainly can't do this alone."

Silence descended the pair as Abbey tried to form her words. Surely C. J. knew that she wasn't going to be alone in this? She would have the Bartlets at her beck and call as well as the entire West Wing staff. "I wish you knew how not alone you are, C.J. dear. You have me and you have Jed and you have all of the Senior Staff. You are loved and you are cared for and so will your baby. I will be there for doctor appointment and advice and… you might not have your actual mother around but you have me. You'll always, always have me."

Silence fell once again.

Abbey hoped that with time C. J. would see how much they all really loved her. Over the cause of the campaign she had become an almost fourth daughter to her and Jed. She had broken through the Bartlet walls in a way that no one else in the senior staff had managed to do. Abbey had often felt that they were Leo's guys who had answered his call to serve the President. Whereas she felt that C. J. was Jed's through and through.

"I don't know the first thing about babies… or kids for that matter. I mean I know that when you heat milk to put it on your wrist to make sure it's not to hot for the baby but other than that… other than that tiny, insignificant fact I know nothing. Nada. Zilch." The way C. J. said made Abbey hope that the younger woman was coming around. That as odd as it would sound in her head for the next while, in her heart the title Mom sounded right.

"I didn't know anything either. There are a lot of books though and you have me and well… frankly there's a lot you learn on the job."

"I can't do this by myself Abbey." The First Lady wrapped her arm around C.J.'s back and gave her a squeeze. She felt that same bubble of excitement in her stomach that she had felt when Elizabeth had told her of her pregnancy 12 years previously. As far as she was concerned this little peanut sized being in currently nestled in C.J. stomach was her newest grandchild.

"Good thing you aren't alone then. Good thing you've got us."

 

/ / / / /

 

She spend the afternoon sitting in the doctors office with Abbey.

"What good is being a doctor and the First Lady if you can't even see a doctor without waiting?" Abbey complains. It's been years since she'd had to wait for anyone but her husband and although she usually she was patient this was her grandbaby and she wasn't getting any second rate treatment.

C. J. however wasn't listening. She was currently texting people back in the office trying to keep up with all the work that she was missing whilst being out of the office. They knew that she was sick and that she was getting a blood test but no one other than Abbey had even an inkling of the bigger picture. She wasn't sure she was ready to tell them. Especially not without having even been to see a doctor yet.

She really wasn't sure how she was going to do her job whilst having a baby. She can barely keep after taking an emergency day off to see the doctor let alone maternity leave and just generally working hours that's conducive for having kids. She isn't ready to quit though. This job is her dream, her chance to create good in the world the way she had envisioned at Berkeley. To give that up, even for her child, seemed like a sacrifice that she would regret. Unfortunately she knew that her choice might have been out of her hands.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Kelly. I'm so sorry that I made you wait at all. We thought you would want complete privacy Mrs. Bartlet and it took longer than we thought to clear out the practice." The doctor pulled her out of her thoughts and broke off the diatribe Mrs. Bartlet had started regarding the lateness of the doctor and how she never made people wait this long.

"That all right, I suppose. I am just worried because Claudia here fainted earlier today and after taking multiple positive pregnancy tests it was clear that she needed to see a doctor." Abbey was talking a mile a minute trying to give the doctor the story so that C. J. didn't have to. It was hard enough to say this all to Abbey let alone saying to it people she didn't even know yet. She is pregnant. The words felt weird formed in her mouth.

"And you were right to do so. We are honored that such a prestigious doctor as you would come to me," Dr. Kelly praised, already warming herself up to Abbey Bartlet. It was clear to the doctor that the First Lady would be an active participant in this pregnancy and even if she wasn't she was still the First Lady. "Now, let's get the patient on the bed."

Within a few minutes C. J. was lying on the bed with her stomach exposed ready to put some of the jelly on for the ultrasound. The balm was surprisingly warm and not as uncomfortable as she had expected.

"I heated it up," Dr. Kelly explained as she saw her patient tighten and then relax when the gel was put on her stomach. "When I had my first child I hated how cold it was so I thought I could fix that for my patients." It was another 10 seconds before the doctor directed them both to look at the screen. Abbey immediately knew what to look for but for C. J. it took a second.

It was her baby.

Suddenly all the doubt faded away as she looked at the tiny, barely 3cm blob that was safely ensconced in her womb. She was sure that the reservations and insecurities would return but for now she was just filled with love. For just this moment it easy to forget about life and love and complications too twisted to fix. She forgot about her job, about Danny, about explaining this to President, about explaining this to the world. Right now she had someone who relied on her. Another person who him to provide for, to support, to love.

"Goodness Abbey, that's my little baby."

And her heart grew a thousand times more.

 

/ / / / /

 

For some unforeseeable reason C. J. agrees to have dinner in the Residency. She doesn't really want to eat, the violent summersaults in her stomach having returned, but she also doesn't want to be alone. Being alone right now with her thoughts and her fears mixed in with all the love that she has in her heart might be too much.

"You should tell Jed tonight, dear."

C. J. coughed up the water that she had been drinking. It hadn't even been 12 hours since she'd found out this news and she wasn't even sure how to say it out loud to herself. She didn't have the words or the vocabulary to explain all that she was feeling. How was she to tell the President of the United States all that was going on? As far as he was concerned, one of his favorite employees had been rushed to the doctor due to a bad case of the flu. "I-I can't Abbey. I can barely say it myself."

"You need to tell him C. J. Forgetting for a second that he's your boss and you need to seriously start taking a lighter load, Jed is your friend, he is your family. He would want to know." C. J. didn't want to tell Abbey the real reason to do with her hesitation. The President was such a deeply religious man and she was hesitant to tell him that one night she was miserable and horny and since she couldn't have the particular journalist that she wanted to she got all liquored up and slept with one of the first men that gave her a second look.

"I don't- I don't want him to be disappointed in me." It was a hard truth to face and even a harder one to express to Abbey. She loved the Bartlets deeply and she knew that she was going to need their love and support coming up and she wasn't sure what she would do if Jed was upset.

"You are like a daughter to him, C. J. You could never disappoint him," Abbey promised giving the younger women a very pointed look. "You can wait until after dinner but you really should tell him."

C.J., wanting to put things of as usual, did wait until after dinner. The President had been surprised to see his Press Secretary at his dinner table but happily so. It wasn't often that he got to spend time with her that wasn't to do with their jobs or how to mitigate a scandal so it nice just to sit down and have a meal with her.

He wasn't the President for nothing though and he was very aware that something was up. He had heard about her passing out earlier that day and rumors of her spending the day with the First Lady had been flying around thick and fast through the office. Now she was over for dinner where they were eating a bland dish of rice and chicken. He hoped beyond all hope that she wasn't seriously ill. It would be a touch of the flu and that was it and it was anything more than he would have the greatest doctor in the world there at the White House by morning.

"Urgh Sir, I have some news to share with you." C.J. tried to smile but she couldn't quite bring herself to do so. The importance of the discussion she was about to have with a man she greatly respected was almost discouraging her, making her want to run away or vomit. Probably both. "You would have heard, I passed out today and so the First Lady took me to see a doctor and well…" She wasn't sure how to say it. She hadn't said it out loud many times to herself let alone other people.

"Just say it Claudia. Whatever it is we'll deal with it." It was bad. That was all Jed could feel. It was going to be something bad.

"I'm pregnant."

"That's fine. We'll find someone who can- wait pregnant?"

She couldn't be.

He wasn't ever aware that she was seeing someone. Well, she still could have been. He had never been very active in their private lives other than making sure that she wasn't with some deadbeat loser who was just looking to score and scurry.

"Yes, she's having a baby, Jed," Abbey said, a large smile gracing her face. She was so excited to be a grandmother to another child that she could barely rein it in. Her mind was already full of images of dollhouses and clothing and toys that she could get the little being that had stolen a piece of her heart. "Isn't that good news?"

"I'm shocked. Who's the father?" Suddenly the smiles faded and the room went tense. Jed had a terrible feeling he knew what was about to be said. "What is it?"

"The father won't be involved in the child life. It'll just be me. I'll be a single parent. It'll be hard but after conferring with Abbey, I know that I can do it." And now she was surer that she could now. She knows that she's still the Queen of all screw ups and that all of this could very well go wrong but from the moment she saw her baby she felt likes she been on more solid ground.

"It's not that damn Concannon's kid it is? He'd be just the type to leave a pregnant woman hanging. What kind of man-"

She cuts him off before he can say anymore. "It's not his. It was one night and I made a mistake and this is what I have. I don't know him and… look I have to do this alone." She stops talking and lets that soak in. All the doubt quickly comes rushing back. "I don't know how I will do it but I have to. Even if that means you need me to resign."  
Silence engulfed the room. The last thing she wanted was to stop working for the President but if it was what was best the administration and her child then that is what she would do.

"Alright," The President finally said. "You won't be resigning. We'll figure it all out but that is not happening." He meant it to. It perhaps wasn't the way he would have liked it to happen and he much preferred children to have two parents but if someone could it was C. J. Cregg. "Congratulations, Claudia Jean."

"I don't know what I'm doing. My little baby won't have a father and I feel… having one parent was hard for me."

"You are right," Jed admitted, looking at the woman who was struggling to keep all her emotions in. "It won't. But the baby is going to have one of the best mother's in the entire world. And you have us. That is just going to have to do. It'll work out C.J. I'll make sure of it."

 

/ / / / /

 

C. J. ignored both of their invitations to stay the night. She might have been pregnant and rather scared but she wasn't an invalid and she needed to be at home. She needed clean clothes, a shower and her very own bed.

If she was going to face tomorrow and tell her friends about her sudden change in future then she was going to need all the sleep that she could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, how was that? This chapter was a lot longer than the first and I’m hoping the rest of the chapters will be this length. Anyway, let me know what you think? I know not much about pregnancy so hopefully it’s not

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you have all enjoyed my first chapter. I will admit that I can be a slow updater but reviews both remind and encourage me so feel free to do so.
> 
> Love to you all xoxo


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